Every year since I have been a district councillor, Mid Suffolk District Council has underspent it’s annual budget. You may think this is a good thing – we all want to save money. But councils raise taxes and receive funds from Government in order to provide services to their residents and communities – and they should agree what needs to be spent and spend it.

For the year 2016/17 Mid Suffolk District Council announced in July 2017 that the underspend was £528,000 – on a net budget of approximately £10 million. The year before the underspend was £1,857,000! And before that £526,000 – and so it goes on.

These underspends are added to a type of reserve called the “Transformation Fund” which the Coucil is supposed to use to “transform” the way it works – thus improving the quality of life for residents in the district. Yet this fund stood at just over £10 million at the beginning of the last financial year.

My group on the Council puts forward amendments to the budget each year with suggestions (such as employing specialists to help with the 5 Year Housing Land Supply) and each year they are voted down on the basis that we cannot afford them. I think we need to look long and hard on what we are doing with our citizens’ money.